Alpha Ethan’s POV.

I couldn't bear to see her kneeling before me. Her presence made my body seize for a moment and my wolf wanted to jump out of my body.

“What are you standing there for? C'mon lift her off her feets… she's your mate, you have just found your mate.” My wolf, Roy roared from within me.

“Oh, please, don't you see there's no time for all these talks? You're gonna spill this out for me.” I tried my best to silence it.

I stared down at her,and the strong cinnamon scent coming from her body caused a weird reaction in me, I’d to use both my palms to cover my nose from inhaling it.

“I'm very sorry,Sir.” She continued begging me.

“Are you going to just stand there and watch her beg you? You guys have been bound together by the moon goddess…”

I was tired of listening to my wolf, I had to do something. And I didn't like the way Alpha Tyler was staring intently at me, it seemed like he noticed my body react with her. Or maybe not.

“Please, take her out of my sight!” I forced myself to speak but I made sure to retain that authority in my voice, I didn't want them suspecting anything was going on.

Alpha Tyler nodded and ordered the guards to take her away.

I hope they don't hurt her…wait…what am I doing? I realized myself when I caught Alpha Tyler goggling at me.

“What?...Is anything the problem?” I asked him firmly, my eyes fixed on him.

He just shook his head and sharply walked away.

I briskly stepped out of the porch, I needed to inhale and exhale fresh air. The whole mansion smelled of her. I would have lost it.

When I got out in the open, I gazed at the end of the field where creeks were flowing through the little rocks, in-between them, then out back. It was more like it formed a fountain when the water reached the top. I tried my possible best, all means to think about something else, something different but all my efforts failed, they all directed me back to one thing—the strange plebeian maid.

“What is even special about her?” I asked my wolf.

“Everything is , she is your—”

“Nah, I disagree.” I mocked, “ Maybe, there's a mistake somewhere, maybe… The moon goddess skipped the one meant for me.”

“You have no right to say that, the moon goddess is always right!”

“Not this time.” I teased, “I mean, take a look at her, she couldn't even stand her ground…she is just an incompetent weakling.”

“Just because she didn't react to the hate speech her masters said to her?” My wolf, Roy inquired.

“Yes. I mean—”

“Oh, please just shut up. You know nothing at all.” my wolf cut in, “What about you, I noticed how you felt sorry for her when she was slapped by Alpha Tyler… Why didn't you help her out?...Why didn't you save her?... Why do you try so hard to suppress the pain you are feeling? ”

“It's none of your business. I just don't like her, that's all. Why does this even bother anyway? We have more pressing issues than wasting our time on an ordinary maid.” I tried to cover up.

“So, what?...”

We argued for a long time, I got tired and pissed of how it kept on flooding me with questions that were unnecessary and for the first time in my thirty-two years of living in this world, my wolf and I quarreled because of who? One girl—a mere servant.

**

They dragged Emma to an enclosed area at the back of the fields, a place that was far away from the pack , so far that no one else would hear her voice. They tied both her arms and legs apart, and left her there to be for a while under the hot, scorching Sun.

After sometime, a group of guards surrounded her and they took turns to give heavy whips all over her body—her back, neck, legs, arms— no part was left untouched. They made sure of that.

Then later came Alpha Tyler and his sister, Mistress Ava, into the scene. As soon as they saw him, they all stopped, giving way for him to go close to her.

He grabbed one of the guard’s whip.

“What was that crazy stunt you pulled back in there... Huh,Schiava ?”He moved close to her, curved down a bit and used his strong right hand to touch my face; he waved his hand down slightly, then raised up her face to meet his eyes, those eyes that could kill someone with just staring at them.

There was dead silence.

He brought her right ear to his lips.

“I say, What was that trick you pulled back at the porch?” he said to her, more like in a whisper.

Still, dead silence. Emma didn’t utter a word.

He straightened back up.

“Oh. I get it now… you want to play me a silent song?” He smiled weirdly, “ Well, let me teach you a lesson so that nextime, you will never think of disgracing me!”

He raised the whip up about to strike but was restricted by his Sister, Mistress Ava, who held it from landing any further on her skin.

“Stop it! Do you want to kill her?”She bellowed. She’d fear written all over her face.

“Allow me to punish her, Sister!” He shouted.

“No, I won't allow you to do such a thing. Do you want to go down that lane again? A lane you swore you will never be?” She looked at him, “Please, don't do this…”

On hearing those words he calmed down a little and handed the whip over to her.

**

Emma’s POV.

I have never seen him portray that type of anger before. Usually, he will discharge me off, or send me to do one hefty job. But today, he was furious.

When he came to the place where I was being punished, he dragged my face to look at him. As I looked deep into those evil lenses of his, I began to wonder why people said that Alpha Ethan was the most dreadful and most fearful one amongst all Alphas, when the person standing right in front of me was the devil, himself. If there were to classify him as an animal, he would be picked as a cold blooded animal.

I watched him raise the rope in mid-air and I felt as if my world was going to end that instant. Thanks graciously to his sister who came to my rescue. She left with him while the guards dragged me back to the maids quarters.

And what did his sister mean by “...go down that lane?

CRIMSON SHADOWS PARK.

20 years earlier…

The cold evening breeze came silently but slowly from a distance, carrying the smell of evening dew and fresh perfumes of flowers. One could hear the sounds of various creatures of the night, the hoot-ing of the owls, the songs from the melodious nightingale. It was so peaceful, so calm and also, so open.

A woman's voice could also be heard in the silence of the twilight, her voice texture was so soft like a drop of early morning dew on your face and smooth like butter. If you don’t know your way around, you would mistake her to be the goddess of music. But she was not there alone, her two children were seated close, listening to her voice.

“La La La, La La La…” She kept on singing.

She stopped abruptly when she heard a loud knock on the door.

Thud! Thud! Thud!

The person kept on banging on the door.

“Who could that be,” She said, “Tyler, go and check who is at the door will you?”

“Who else do you think it is? It's him of course.” He replied to her.

She frowned at him, “ Just open it for him, will you?”

He hesitated for a second, but the man outside kept on hitting the door.

“Open up this door!” The man from outside called out.

Young Tyler reluctantly went and opened it for him. The man, his father, came in. He didn't even heed to the greetings of young Tyler, he just went straight to where his mother was pulling her up by her hair.

“Why didn't you want to open the door for me quickly when I was knocking?!” He raised his voice at her.

“Please, let's not do this in front of the children…Please,you are hurting me!” She cried out.

“Which children, these two little wimps?” He growled out in disdain.

“Daddy, stop… you are hurting Mummy,” cried young Ava, who came to rush him but he used his elbow to hit her out. She fell on a couch beside them.

Young Tyler didn't do anything. Although he was boiling red, he just stood there amidst teary-eye, and watched his father maltreat his mother, he hated him so much for that. To him, he was nothing but just a stranger and he swore never to be like him.

His father and his mother were not true mates. They were chosen by their different packs to be mates. His mother was forced into mating with him and she hated him for that. As a sign for her to revenge, she gave birth to him and his sister, neglecting the both of them when they were still little because sometimes when she looked at them, all she saw was nothing but the man who raped her. She would always unleash her anger on them whenever it got to her head and this affected young Tyler mentally. Sometimes he was seen conversing with himself and people thought he was losing it.

Their father was an Alpha so it means wasn't always at home to give them that support and whenever he was there, instead of checking on them, he used it as an opportunity to force their mother, his supposed mate to lay with him, and the most shameful was that, he would do it there—in their presence…

Today, he came again to do what he always did. He dragged by her and used his other hands to tug at her dress forcefully. Impatient, he stripped down the dress from her body and flung it across the other room, leaving her naked and exposed for everyone in the room to see.

“Please, not again… don’t do this, please.” She begged him.

“Shut up! You are mine and I will do whatever I want with you, wherever I want and whenever I want!” He continued, “You hear me?!”

He went back to kissing her roughly, fondling her breasts with his fingers. She cried and begged but they all fell on deaf ears.

Young Tyler was irritated and got fed up with what he was seeing, and so he took his sister outside of the mansion, and locked the door.

That night, he did something very dreadful, he killed both of them. Though the death of his mother was a mistake he never regretted one bit. He was now a psychopath.

***

His sister, Mistress Ava came and sat with him by the lake. It was his get-away spot, a place where usually came whenever he wanted to ease off his stress.

“I knew I would find you here.” She said, staring into nothingness.

There was silence for a minute, then he finally spoke up, “Do you think I am turning to him?”

“ To who?” she asked him, pretending to not know who he was referring to.

“Dad…” he faced her,“oh, how I hate calling him that name.” He shrugged.

“Why will you say so?”

“Look at what I did to her today, I would have killed her…”

“Shh…Don't say that.” She cut in,stopping him halfway through his sentence.

“B—But…I would have done it if only you didn't stop me…” He stuttered.

“That is why I am here…To look after you, my senior brother.” She smiled.

He turned to her and smiled too, “Thank you.”

They hugged each other for a while and then turned to watch the sun give way to the dark slowly.

“The sun is beautiful.”He said after a while of observing the Sun settle down.

“It sure is…”she inhaled deeply.

“Come on, let's go back…Our guest must be worried-sick waiting for us.”

They both stood up, dusted themselves a bit, then started heading back for the mansion.

Ethan's Pov.

I was still sitting out the porch when I heard footsteps from behind me, I turned to see Alpha Tyler moving toward me.

“Alpha Ethan, you are still here? I thought one of my guards would have showed you your room… these people are so incompetent.”

“Very very I tell you…but it's no problem, I’m actually just enjoying view, it is been quite a long time since I stayed amd watched the moon. It looks so beautiful.” I said to him before turning back stare at the moon again.

“Yeah it is… You want me to show you to your room now, or…?”

“Oh, of course, I will love to, Alpha Tyler.” I said to him and then, he led the way.

We passed through corridors, went up the stairs, we passed a few painting on thwell as well. I wanted to aks him to send me one if the paintings but what happened today was enough.

As we continued to stride through the corridors, my mind stopped for a second, the words coming from Alpha Tylers mouth started to fade as my mind drifted off. I thought about her again.

I pray she's alright…I thought. I wanted to ask Alpha Tyler about her but, I had a rethink, I didn't want to raise any form suspicions at all, whereas she is just an ordinary slave…

“You will need to change your clothes first, you can not spend your time in my house and expect me to not take care of everything you need…”

That was when I even noticed I was still wearing his heavy, big attire.

“Come… I think I have a shirt that will fit you perfectly.” he said, changing direction to the right corner of the passage.

After a long while of turning different routes, we finally got to a room, its door was painted with gold. He opened it. The room waa quite spacious and wide, with a king sized bed in the middle of it.

“Welcome to my room.”

He walked to the corner where the wardrobe was, he opened it, searching for a shirt.

As he searching for my clothe, I used my eyes to admire the room; the table at the center, the glittering chandelier and alsl, the bed again. But something caught my eyes, I saw a G-string panties lying on the floor. Maybe, it was from one of those maids he had slept with before.

“You sure know how to have a lot of fun,” I teased. He turned to me and I used my eyes to point at the G-string panties on the floor.

“Oh. ” He laughed out loud, usung his foot to kick it under the bed.

“Wow, how many do you sleep with in a day?”

“I can't tell you that, Alpha Ethan… but just know that I have fun whenever I want.”

I kept mute, I was now scared, scared that the maid, his supposed mate were also part of the maids he slept with.

“Here. I think this will fit perfectly.” He said and handed me a red and white shirt, it had a horizontal striped pattern.

“Yeah, it will. Thank you.” I smiled and accepted it from him.

“Erm… I think I should excuse you to change up, I will be right back.” He excused himself.

“Oh, sure. No problem.” I replied to him.

“If you need any other thing, I am one call away.” he said an with that, he opened the door and left me in the room to be alone.

I took my bath,trimmed my body hairs a little before slipping into the shirt he gave me. It suited quite well too.

**

Emma’s POV.

Alone in my dark, four corner room, I used a wet blanket to massage my hands and legs. The whole of my body ached and nobody was there to help me; just me, myself and the emptiness I felt inside.

“Ouch…”I cried silently when the blanket touched an open cane marks.

The pain I was feeling was intense and sharp, not that other times it wasn’t, but this one just felt different.

It was because of him! I said to myself…I mean, what was so so special about him that made me react in a way I haven't in my life? Who is he? Why do I feel like jumping on him and allowing to do away with me romantically?...I cringed so hard at the last thought. I hated him now for no reason.

“He is so heartless and rude…” I sniffed, “he didn't even try to rescue me from my masters wrath, he just there, looking at them hit me like a dog.”

I regret even stepping out of this room earlier. If only I had stayed put and told that old lady that I wasn't going to go out, I wouldn't have been in this mess. Or even met him.

Why am I even here? What happened to my parents? Yes, I they died but what actually took place on that day?...

All these things and many more were what was running through my head as I sat there, on the rickety spring bed, massaging my wounds.

I really needed to know who my real parents were, what they look like and why they abandoned me to languish in this dungeon…

I was still lost in my ocean of random thoughts when I heard a knock on the door. My heart skipped, I began feeling it want to rip off from my rib cage.

“Maybe, he is here again to have his way with me. Him and his sister, Mistress Ava…”

I heard the knock again, but this a voice called out.

“Heyy, Emma, open up… it's me, Alyssa…”

***

Alyssa, Alyssa jones was the first person I met when I joined in the new pack. She was nice to me, the best person one would consider a companion.

“So, how did you come here because the way you look tells me you are not a native from around here.” She had asked me one certain time while we were doing our daily household chores.

“Me? My case is a long story, very long that if I start to explain, you might get confused and I think I’m a mad person.” I said, trying to be funny.

Well, she got the joke. She knew I didn't want to explain myself or talk about anything close to my personal life because for real, my life was truly a mess.

She just smiled and said, “Okay. I understand.”

From there, our bond grew stronger. We always talked about everything, at any place, at any time…

But there was a time she did something and they had to lock her up in the real dungeons. She was just trying to save me from the grasp of my evil master, Alpha Tyler…